Zoning Department

ISSUE: On Tuesday, the Harford County Council approved a rezoning package that reversed dozens of recommendations made by the county planning and zoning department and nearly quadrupled the number of business zoning requests that had been approved. On Thursday, County Executive David R. Craig said that the council erred in approving more than 50 amendments - some of which would add nearly 175 acres for business use - and added that he has not ruled out vetoing the package. "We believe we had a method in creating [the rezoning bill]

TOMORROW Board of Zoning Appeals The hearing examiner will hear Cases BA 05-019V (Aaron Roberts and Laurie Orgel) at 3 p.m.; BA 05-020V (Brian E. Writt) at 4 p.m.; and BA 05-014C (Thomas J. Ebaugh) at 6:30 p.m.; all in the Ellicott Room, George Howard Building, 3430 Court House Drive, Ellicott City. County Council Will be in recess next month. 410-313-2001. TUESDAY Planning and Zoning Department Will hold a public meeting on a proposal to refine zoning in rural western Howard County at 7 p.m. in the Glenelg High School auditorium, 14025 Burntwoods Road, Glenelg.

The Annapolis City Council will consider tonight a proposal by the former owner of Harbour House restaurant to expand the Food Basket on Dock Street into a delicatessen.Aldermen will hear testimony for the application by George Phillips to expand his store into a 10-seat delicatessen that would offer sandwiches and other light fare from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Friday, and 6 a.m. to midnight Saturdays.The store, at Dock and Craig streets, sells food, gifts itemsand teas. The proposal also includes offering carryout meals.

The county Planning Board recommended yesterday by a vote of 3-2 that the Zoning Board approve a 682-acre residential, commercial and golfing village in Marriottsville.The Zoning Board is scheduled to hear testimony tonight on the project, Waverly Woods II, which would be located off Marriottsville Road between Interstate 70 and Route 99."We think it's fantastic," said Donald R. Reuwer Jr., Waverly's developer. "It's gratifying to see that the Planning Board looks at the plan and not at the small group of angry opponents."

A group of Ellicott City residents say a proposal by their community's developer threatens the very essence of their neighborhood -- spacious lots.The plan by landowner Timothy E. Welsh, who lives off Parrot Drive in the Font Hill community, includes adding to the 10 homes he already has built on half-acre lots another 25 homes on one-sixth-acre lots that would be off Timberknoll Lane and Parrot and Springfield drives.The Howard County Planning Board heard part of Welsh's plan yesterday, then postponed the rest of the hearing until Dec. 4.Residents did not get a chance to speak but afterward they criticized the plan.

A county zoning hearing examiner has recommended the county deny an Abingdon man's request for a special exception to create a private aircraft landing strip.Michael J. Kozub, who owns a 113-acre agriculturally zoned parcel on Hookers Mill Road, said various types of aircrafts have been landing and taking off from his family's farm sincethe mid-1940s.Kozub had asked the county to recognize the non-conforming airstrip and to grant a special exception to allow the landing and storage of private aircraft in an agricultural district.

Two's company, but three's illegal -- at least when it comes to Annapolis' housing code.Last week, Planning and Zoning Department officials cited a city landlord for renting a five-bedroom house to four St. John's College students -- the first such action in recent memory.The landlord, Ron Hollander, says he'll fight the law that regulates who can rent an apartment or single-family home. He calls it discriminatory.The law prohibits a landlord from renting an apartment or a single-family house to people who do not meet the city's definition of family: "one or more persons, each related to the other by blood, marriage, or adoption, who are living together in a single dwelling and maintaining a common household."

Historic Ellicott City's effort to break its parking gridlock appears to be working -- maybe a little too well.Less than two weeks after Howard County began phasing in the much-talked-about effort, nearly 50 merchants have signed a petition asking the county Planning and Zoning Department to lengthen the time restriction for much of Main Street from one hour to two hours.The request is part of the merchants' goal to ward off what they call a "ghost town feel" that many say has afflicted the quaint former mill town's commercial district since a private parking firm began ticketing errant parkers July 26."